A day of the week

I find myself sitting in a bar on George Street, Sydney, with my brother. The time is 5.45am. What are we doing here at this ungodly hour you may ask? Well, it just so happens the 'mighty' Dons are playing Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup and we've got front row seats (to put it another way, we're the only 2 people in the entire pub).

But more on that tantalising story later. What's happened with the Dons since i've been away in a nicer and warmer country on holiday? Well, to put it bluntly, we've been utter horse. I won't be going into any details to save my sanity, but the results have been as follows:

Aberdeen 0 - 0 Kilmarnock (Horrific game the day before I left to go to Australia).

St Mirren 1 - 1 Aberdeen (Tommy Wright on target).

Aberdeen 1 - 0 Hamilton (Maguire with the goal).

Hibernian 0 - 0 Aberdeen

So all in all, it's fair to say i've missed the square root of fuck all. Which brings me back to 'Cheers' bar. Australia. Did I mention it's nice and warm? Ice cold Schooner in hand (no, nothing dirty, a weird Australian name for a beer), ready for a majestic cup win and a trip to Hampden when I return home.

The match kicks off. And nothing happens. And I mean nothing. We are awful. The pitch looks awful. Dunfermline have the better chances. I'm not going to say anymore than that. There is nothing to say. The fact that Jimmy 'the tactician' Calderwood matches their 4-5-1 formation says it all. Spineless, gutless, a total shambles.

We should be ripping shite teams like this to pieces at home, not playing to their strengths and tactics. A total mess from start to finish. On to penalties, and it was blindly obvious we were going to lose. I thought it was particularly fitting that Dick Foster missed the last kick. A total disgrace of a performance from a total disgrace of a player. He wouldn't get a game in the Highland League.

To say the backlash has been fierce is an understatement. I think the winds of change will be whistling down Pittodrie way sooner rather than later at this rate. Watch this space. I don't even know when our next game is.....

What is it about Dundee United this season? In the first home game against them a shocking penalty kick is given away (the less said about the game at Tannadice the better). And so it was to be the case again on Saturday. But lets take nothing away from the match itself, as it was very entertaining and exactly what we should be seeing week in week out.

A healthy crowd was inside Pittodrie for this 'Europa Cup' qualification clash! Ricky Foster was dropped too (which is always a bonus). And as usual, the Dons get off to the worst possible start, with Diamond making a right pigs ear of a simple passback and tangling with Sandaza in the box who goes down looking like he's been shot. Penalty. Typical. 1-0 down.

Did the heads go down though? No, most certainly not. The Dons literally ran the show for the rest of the half, and indeed the entire match, creating a sucession of good chances on a far from perfect pitch.

Our just rewards came right from the kick off with a great move ended by a lucky deflection off Severin and into the net. 1-1! Lets go on and win this. But no, as on many an occasion this season we switch off and gift the opposition a howler of a goal. See the hightlights here as I don't want to go over it again. Back to square one. But again we fought back and created a sucession of good chances, the best of which fell to Miller, whose header crashed back off the bar.

It was probably justice that Diamond popped up on the end of a Mulgrew free kick (both players at fault for the United goals)to nod in the equaliser and give the Dons a well deserved point. Coupled by the fact Hearts were held to a draw and it's as you were in the race for Europe.

Kilmarnock on Saturday, my last game for a month before a nice jaunt off on holiday. Lets sign off with a win boys!

TOMMY'S GONNA GET YE! I ventured down towards todders (having successfully given away our extra tickets to some poor souls) feeling a little wary of this impending cup tie. Especially considering the disaster that was last years semi final in the same competition.

I need not have worried however, for minutes after i'd sat down with my pie and bovril East Fife were reduced to 10 men. A glorious lob from Vidal, Aluko is racing onto it and out bolts the opposition keeper to inexplicably handle outside his area. Red card, game effectively over.

This proved to be the case a few moments later, a great cross from the left (from... you guessed it, man of the match Aluko) and up pops Tommy Dreamer to open his account for the Dons. Glad to see the big man off the mark and lets hope it's the first of many.

It was pretty much one way traffic from this point onwards, the second goal being the pick of the bunch. A 'flowing' passing move side footed home by our resident hairdresser, Vidal Sasson to open his Dons account too.... 'silky smooth'!

Aluko soon added the 3rd with the help of a wicked deflection which effectively killed the game. It didn't kill my appetite though and I added to my pie scoreline with a sly little steak pie to bring the count up to 2. I think the steak actually edged out the chicken for once. Result.

Onto the second half. A lot of huffing and puffing. And to be fair to East Fife, they created a couple of chances to at least give their impressive away support something to cheer about. The Dons hat the post through Severin and Maguire missed a total sitter when clean through.

To be fair to the young lad he rolled his sleeves up and popped up with a late double. One header and a great finish for his second, and the Dons 5th! Hopefully this will give him a bit of confidence to push on and cement a place in the first team. Match report is here.

It was also pleasing to see two other youngsters (Pawlett and Paton) get a run out. Big things will be expected of these two young lads, lets hope they deliver.

Up next, United. At home. We really need to win this one. If we don't, it's an uphill battle for 3rd spot. Lets hope the boys are up for it. We have a score to settle, especially after the last match at Tannadice.

Tynecastle. Hearts. Bruisers. Defeat. That kind of sums up the day. Thankfully I wasn't down to the match as I had a prior engagement that day. I can't really comment much on it either as I turned off the highlights once I saw a Mackie wonder strike (yes, I did just say that)!

What a goal! A long raking 40 yard pass from Mulgrew, drops down over the defenders shoulder and Mackie hits it first time past the keeper into the top corner. Wonderful stuff. Sublime even.

As usual, after the good, we get the inevitable bad (and oh how bad). It had Calderwood unleashing a few of his favourites... 'sloppy defending' being the highlight. A goal lost just before half time, then another not long after the break. Not that we didn't have chances to tie it up, and to be fair to Jimmy, he went for it. 4 up front. A sitter missed by Wright and MaGuire so unlucky to see his effort rebound off the post. Watch it here yourself if you dare!

Worse news was to follow with a spate of injuries picked up over the course of the game. Diamond, Considine, Mackie, Aluko, Smith and Mair all struggling to be fit for tonight's barn stormer against East Fife.

Lets hope we don't blow it. Gulp.

The writing was on the wall for this game. I can't even bring myself to say very much. I can't muster up the enthusiasm let alone the vitriol to recall such a gutless performance.

It's all very well performing against the big boys, but those matches take care of themselves in many respects. It's about rolling your sleeves up and giving 100% against the so called 'lesser' teams. Teams like Inverness (1 defeat), Hamilton (2 defeats), and on Saturday Falkirk (now the first time they've beaten us since 1994).

Simply not good enough. Records are tumbling left, right and centre this season, and not in a good way. A terrible performance, which i'm not even going to describe, i'll leave that to the professionals. Not to mention bizarre tactics and players out of position all over the park.

Added to that a week of no activity in the transfer window, not to mention lousy weather, and it's smiles all round!

Next up a respite in the form of the Scottish (sorry homecoming) cup. Let's hope we can play some good stuff against East Fife, score a few goals and get the confidence levels back up.

Although this is the Dons we are talking about. Anything could, and probably will happen. Watch this space.

Ah yes, an old firm double header. Celtic well and truly dispatched. Up next, the other half of the ugly sisters! I'm up bright and early.... on a Saturday too. I am supposedly meeting a friend for a nice sociable breakfast as he's off to the Cove game later in the day. I meander up town on what turns out to be a frosty spring morning only to have my phone ring as i'm almost there. The Cove game is off. Bastard. Never mind, I buy some things I don't need and head on back towards my flat.

As I head closer to Pittodrie I notice the unwashed have already started to arrive (and it's only 10.30am). The union jacks, the lack of dental hygiene, not to mention simple soap and water give away the game. All the usual ingredients are in place.

Once everyone arrives we meander towards the stadium, walking past the hordes of weegie zombies on the way, avoiding their grating accents and bleating for 'any spare tickets pal, by the way etc'. They drive past in buses banging on the windows like caged animals, the gutter trash of society without a doubt.

And so, to the game itself.... Boyd is dropped for the Huns. HOORAY! They are only playing 1 up front? HOORAY! They are surely there for the taking? An early free kick. Up steps Mulgrew, great strike, it looks in. No, saved by the self proclaimed ladies man. ANNNNNNNNNND.... that's it for the first half. Seriously dull stuff. 0-0 written all over it.

The second half was much the same affair. The only thing of note that happened was the usual Rangers clobbering of our keeper (this time by that headless chicken Kenny Miller). Bossu had to come on and coped well against a very poor Rangers team.
Rangers struck the post through the gap toothed spanish gypsy and Mackie missed a great chance from a Mulgrew freekick floated into the box. That was pretty much it.

Still, 4 points from the old firm in 2 weeks, I think everyone and anyone would have taken that beforehand.

And in other amazing news, all 6 season ticket holders were in attendance. Stone the crows!

Up next, Falkirk away. If we have any aspirations of getting third spot we must keep up our recent good run of form.

Well. What can I say? That was a turn up for the books! 4 goals (yes, I did just say that) against the Tims. When was the last time that happened? Frank McDougal. He scored all 4 that day... we spread them out a little yesterday though (it would be rude not to).

I was confident all week that we'd get some sort of result in this game. I thought perhaps a sneaky 1-0 or 2-1 win given the decent run of form we'd been on of late. We almost got a full turnout of season tickets too.... almost. 5 of the ticket owners present.... one day it'll happen, perhaps the Rankgers game next Saturday.

So, we head down towards the stadium, past the hordes of weird looking people with no teeth, weird shaped faces and an even weirder dress sense. A motley crew and no mistake. Once the stench had left my nostrils I grabbed myself a chicken pie and a wee bovril to ward off the cold and took my seat... ready for a routine Dons win... or something along those lines.

The first 10 minutes did not look good for us. Celtic were all over us. Oh dear. Slowly but surely we worked ourselves into the game however. Aluko in particular was menacing down the left and whipping in some wonderful crosses (more on that aspect of the game later).

We finally took the lead around the half hour mark with a wonderful goal from Gary McDonald. The ball broke to Duff on the left wing, he turned well and put a great ball towards the back post, McDonald pulled off his marker and planted a great header beyond Brown into the top corner. No chance. YES!

Oh wait... but it's Celtic. I forgot. Straight up the park. Goal for Brown. Dreadful marking. Jesus wept... we've seen this before all too often. Time to roll up the sleeves and get on with it.

But wait... hark, what's this? 2-1 the Dons! A wonderful ball from Kerr, the Celtic defence are static and in steps an unmarked Duff to volley past a helpless Brown in the Celtic goal. First Dons goal for the local boy, and what a cracker to open his account. Half time, all is well.

Into the second half, and what do we do? You guessed it. Sit deep and defend our lead. BIG mistake, especially against Celtic. They throw everthing at us, and what happens? You guessed it. Equaliser, Scott McDonald (the swine). Here we go, a late Celtic winner, just like at Parkhead earlier in the year.

We seem to be made of sterner stuff right now however. We seem to roll our sleeves up and go for it. And it pays off, big style. A free kick is whipped in by Mulgrew and Diamond throws himself headfirst at it and the ball arrows into the top corner. Then the ref blows for a foul on Mackie. Then it's disallowed. Then it's a penalty to us. No wait, it's a goal! Come on Dons, hold on for a well deserved 3 points.

A minute later. Free kick (again). Whipped in by Mulgrew (again). Diamond at the back post (again). GOAL! (again) 4-2 Aberdeen. Cue mad celebrations. I think we ended up about 2 rows down when that 4th goal went in. Absolutely amazing. Only one team was winning from that point on.

On watching the post match analysis when I got home one thing struck me. Gordon Strachan comes across as a bitter, bitter man. He can never hold his hands up and admit his team were well beaten on the day. All rubbish goals apparently, the pitch was useless too apparently. His glib remarks that used to be funny and refreshing when he was managing in England do little now to hide the fact he's struggling under the pressure of managing a big team. In fact they are no longer even funny, he just comes across as an arse.

All in all a wonderful day. Re-live it here in all it's glory. Roll on next Saturday and Rangers at Pittodrie. It's about time we pulled off an old firm double. Lets hope the boys (and the fans) are up for it. Until then....